


Shade of the Southern Seas

by superduple



Category: RWBY
Genre: AU, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Jazz on a cruise ship au, M/M, Music, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2018-12-03 12:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11532081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superduple/pseuds/superduple
Summary: The Vytal University Jazz Orchestra has been invited to participate in a three month cruise on the world's largest luxury liner as one of the ship's main musical fixtures. Let's put these 27 characters on a boat for a while and see what happens. Jazz on a cruise ship AU.





	1. King of the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes about the AU. The story takes place on Remnant, with some rules changing and some remaining the same.
> 
> These things have not changed:  
> -Names of cities, kingdoms, etc.  
> -Advanced technology makes use of dust.  
> -Faunus. White Fang exists, as well, and the political climate is very similar to what it is in the show.
> 
> Things that HAVE changed:  
> -Ruby is 19, but is still the youngest in the group. All other ages will scale appropriately. Except Cinder. Let's keep her at 25.  
> -Grimm do not exist.  
> -The concepts of aura and semblances do not exist.  
> -Penny is a normal meatperson, just like you and me. I thought about having her be an AI, but the lack of aura took away that "real" feeling, in my opinion.  
> -The huntsman academies are universities (Shade University, Beacon University, etc). The cast is from Vytal University, which is, you guessed it, located on the island of Vytal. Their original homes are the same as on the show, though.
> 
> That about covers it. More notes on the musical roles that each character fills will be in the end notes.
> 
> tumblr: superduple.tumblr.com

Just a few weeks ago, the smell of salt in the air was enough for the panic set in. No one took his feelings seriously, mostly since he was so hell-bent on playing it off. But it was bad. At its worst, there was an anxiety where his chest felt like it might cave in on itself. At best, there was just this nagging feeling of helplessness. The water will pull you in and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Just a few weeks back, his breath would have sat heavy in his lungs.

But he felt light. Neptune stood on the elevated sidewalk that ran along the beach and took in a deep breath of ocean air. Down in the center of his chest, he felt a tiny pinprick of fear as vague images flashed in his head. Then, he exhaled and let all of that flow away. Just like he had practiced. Or rather, as he and Scarlet had practiced. Neptune took hold of the railing and let his eyes rest on the water. It was blue at a distance and green near the beach. And it was huge. Anyone who wasn’t at least a little afraid of the ocean was out of their mind.

He let out a deep sigh and ruffled a hand through his hair. “Well, this isn’t so bad… At this specific moment in time.” He was rudely rocked back to awareness when a big SUV honked and pulled up to the curb right behind him.

“Sup, big guy! Did you miss me?” Sun had the passenger door open before the vehicle had even stopped. “No no, you don’t have to answer that. I know you did.” He moved in for a “Bro Fist into Bro Hug Super Combo!” before his door had slammed shut. That’s how it always was with Sun. It’s like the world around him could barely even keep up.

“Aww, man. How’d you know! You know that I hate it when you read my diary,” Neptune responded with total sincerity. Sun jumped and sat on the railing, facing the ocean. His tail playfully wrapped around one of the lower bars.

“Nah. I stopped doing that the day you started getting into soap operas. I decided that I could live without reading a weekly dissertation on the newest episode of _Lawson’s Peak_.” Just then, the pair heard the conspicuous thud of an over-packed duffle bag landing on pavement.

“I hope you’re not expecting me to play bagboy, over here.” Sage continued to drop luggage emphatically on the ground.

“Keep your shirt on, I’m comin’.” Sun laughed and swooped back down onto the sidewalk. “Speaking of which, I’m really digging the dressed-down look that you and Neptune are goin’ for! Glad to see you’re both adapting to the western Sanus heat. I was half convinced that you’d all opt to deep-fry yourselves.” Sun reached in to help unload luggage and instruments.

Sage stood almost a head taller than Sun; he barely even had to reach to have a hand on the opened hatchback. He wore a plain, black tank top that fit snug against his torso. The color bled perfectly into the numeral tattoos on his neck. He wore a pair of capris pants that were sort of neutral-purple, along with simple gray loafers. Neptune wore a peach polo and khaki shorts with boat shoes. Even in the heat, Mistral boys were fashion-forward. Scarlet, of course, was no exception.

“Neptune! How ya doing, buddy?” Scarlet finally emerged from the vehicle. He wore a white v-neck and gray cargo shorts. It was a simple look, but it was Scarlet. He could make anything look good. To everyone’s great surprise, Sun was the only one who hadn’t deviated from his usual style.

“Scarlet, my dude, good to see you!” Neptune greeted him with a rather complicated handshake. “You know, I’m glad you acknowledged my existence. I was sort of worried since Sage hasn’t even said a word to me.” Neptune faced the ground with a theatrical pout. Scarlet put his hand to Neptune’s shoulder for comfort as Sage walked over to the passenger door, his trumpet case strapped to his back like a backpack.

“Hey, that’s not true.” Sage shot a finger gun at Neptune. “I meant for you to help unload, too.”

“You boys sure that you’ve got everything?” Sage’s father, Chester, spoke up from the driver’s seat. He was a lean man in slacks and suspenders with rich, dark skin. “Sage, don’t forget your fanny pack. I made sure that all of your allergy medicine is in there and I don’t want you going anywhere without it.”

“DAD.” Sage covered his face. “It’s… in my suitcase.”

“Doesn’t do you much good in there, now does it?” his father retorted.

“Dad, I’ll be fine. I’ll get the stuff out when we get to the room.”

“Sage, I packed that specifically so that you could keep your medicine _on your person_.” They shared a look through the open passenger-side window. Sage sighed, but eventually knelt down to his suitcase and started unzipping. He slowly pulled the black leather accessory out of the bag and held it away from himself like a rank fish. He could feel muffled snickers coming from Sun and Neptune.

“You can’t honestly expect me to wear this, can you?” He sent a pleading look toward his father. Chester shrugged and maintained his soft-but-stern expression. Sage hung his head in defeat.

“Scarlet!” Chester beckoned. Scarlet scooted into his line of sight.

“Yessir?”

“You make sure that he takes care of himself, for me. I know he’s not your responsibility, but I’d appreciate it if you could.” Scarlet could only grin and side-eye Sage.

“I am a grown man.” Sage crossed his arms in annoyance. The fanny pack was clipped to his waist, but at a cool angle.

“You are.” His father shifted in his seat. “But you’re a grown man who doesn’t take his allergies seriously, and you’re also my only son.”

“So you’re just worried since you don’t have a backup.”

“Exactly.” Chester leaned toward the boys and shared a smile with his son. “You all take care now, and have fun. An experience like this doesn’t come along twice in a lifetime.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. A. I’ll be keeping these guys on the straight and narrow.” Sun’s toothy grin earned an eye roll from Chester.

“Just don’t get arrested.” He panned back to Sage. “And YOU stay away from malicious proteins!” He smiled again and winked. “Love you.”

Sage sighed. “Love you, too.” The vehicle swerved away and left the four on the sidewalk, standing among their suitcases and instruments. It wasn’t long before Sun’s attention was dragged to the looming maritime goliath that Neptune had, up to this point, been pretending wasn’t there.

“There she is! Shade of the Southern Seas!” Sun stood with his hands on his head as he and his friends took in the towering cruise liner. “With a name like that, you’ve got to think that it’s gonna live up to all the hype.”

If you were to describe it, you would say…

“It’s a boat.”

Wh—ugh. Thank you, Sage.

“A ship, technically,” Scarlet responded.

Sun scratched his head. “What’s the difference?”

“Ships are… bigger,” said Neptune.

“Ah. Well. That’s neat.”

They all nodded.

“Super neat,” said Sage.

There was an uncomfortable silence. A car passed by.

Sun fidgeted.

More cars.

Scarlet coughed.

“…Aaaaaand… Onward!” Sun led the charge as everyone else picked up their bags and instrument cases. Sage had a modest suitcase along with his backpack-trumpet-case…and the fanny pack. Neptune and Scarlet tied for most enormous suitcase, and they both had saxophones. Scarlet carried his alto at his side while Neptune slung the strap on his tenor case over his shoulder. Sun just had his drumsticks poking out of his duffle. Scarlet held back and waited for Neptune.

“Hey, so how are you holding up?” Scarlet kept his voice down and eyed Neptune with some concern.

“It’s, uh, not as bad as I thought, actually. I mean yeah, it still freaks me out a bit, but it’s kinda crazy how much those exercises paid off.” Neptune took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “That’s why I came early, actually. I felt like, I dunno, it might help to do that breathing stuff while I’m actually here and staring at it.”

Scarlet smiled and nudged Neptune on the arm. “That’s good to hear. Give it a little more time and you’ll be a proper king of the seas, after all.”

He chuckled nervously. “Uh, don’t start patting me on the back just yet. We haven’t even been _on_ the water yet.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to stick close while we’re boarding. Just let me know if you need me at any point.”

“Thanks, Scarlet. I mean it.” They made eye contact for a brief moment. “You’ve always been there for me. Especially when it came to this whole cruise thing. It really means a lot to me, you know?”

Scarlet laughed. “Oh, stop it. You’re going to get me all teary-eyed.”

“No, seriously! You have been, like, so awesome.”

“Yeah.” He looked up and gave Neptune a wink. “I know.”

The four of them made their way toward the pier where they were scheduled to meet up with the rest of the band. Sage pulled out his scroll to check the time.

“9:50 AM. Looks like we’re not going to be late, after all. We were scheduled to meet everyone at ten, right?”

“Yup,” Neptune answered. “Everyone except the loading crew. They were supposed to meet at 9:30.” Sun stopped in his tracks as his eyes bugged out wide. “Wait… Sun, weren’t you supposed to be part of the loading crew?”

“Ohhh god.” Sun slapped his hands to his head in panic. “Yatsu is gonna KILL ME.”

~~~

Yatsuhashi checked his scroll again. “Yup.” He slammed the device shut. “I’m definitely going to kill him.”

“You could just call him, you know,” Fox grumbled as he sat a guitar amp onto a large, flat dolly.

“We were only given half an hour. If he’s not here already, then calling him probably won’t make a difference.” Yatsu picked up the bass drum and sat it on the dolly meant for the drum kit.

Velvet shuffled up to him with a tom under each arm. “It’s alright, Yatsu. It’s not like there’s that much to load, anyway.” After she sat them down, she bounced up off the ground and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Don’t worry over it, love. We’re here to relax.” She ran her fingers over his arm.

Yatsuhashi scratched his head as his cheeks and ears flushed red. Velvet giggled. She enjoyed seeing her boo flustered over surprise PDA. Fox loaded another amp onto the dolly with rugged, rugged gusto. He wiped his brow and then jumped a bit when a familiar hand tapped him on the butt.

“Nice hustle. As always.” Coco sauntered up to the loading crew, decked out in a summer-appropriate take on her normal outfit. It was a flowy, off-shoulder brown blouse with jean shorts. She opted for a black newsboy cap over the beret, but the sunglasses stayed. Her saxophone gig bag hung from her shoulder, and she strung along a surprisingly compact suitcase. In comparison, Fox was wearing a dark red shirt with the sleeves taken off while Yatsu and Velvet had on matching printed tees from a water park that they’d visited together. Velvet’s was blue and Yatsu’s was lime green. “You guys having fun with all the heavy lifting?” Coco teased.

Velvet flexed. “You know i—“

“Heyy, Coco~” A lilting, somewhat squeaky voice interrupted. Neon scooted up to Coco and whizzed around her with unexplained speed. Unexplained, that is, until Coco realized that this particular ball of faunus energy was wearing shoes with wheels in the heel. She’d heard of them before. They were called… Wheelies or something.

Neon continued, “You’re sooooo lucky that you horn players aren’t part of the loading crew! It’s super lame having to carry everything around all the time.” Coco looked down to see that Neon was indeed carrying something. The bass pedal. Which probably weighed all of five pounds. She turned around to see Ciel and Ren working together to move the vibraphone, which was, coincidentally, the instrument that Neon played.

“At least most of us only have to do it for today.” She didn’t seem to have an off button. “Yatsu, I feel bad for you. And you too, Fox! You both just get to lug around all of our junk for the whole trip! Lame, right? But don’t worry I’ll _definitely_ buy you both a smoothie or something sometime, m’kay?~” She sat the pedal down and flitted around for another second before darting off.

Ren finished pushing the vibes up to where the rest of the equipment sat and curled down with his hands on his knees, panting. A sweat spot was forming under the neck of his green tank top, right above the band logo for _ToddlerMetal_. Ciel put her hand on his shoulder.

“We need to have a talk with that girl,” Ciel remarked. “And Ren,” He looked up at her pitifully. “ _you_ need to work on your cardio.”

Ren sighed. “Please don’t let Nora hear you say that.”

“Okay!” Somehow, without anyone noticing, Ruby had snuck by everyone, managed to get her enormous double bass loaded onto a dolly, and was now standing by the group with a big smile. She was wearing a black tank top, shorts, and flip flops. “We’re all done loading! Let the fun times begin!” she cheered with her hands in the air.

“I’m afraid that we’re not quite done yet, Ruby.” Ciel promptly rained on her parade. She was wearing a white spaghetti-strap top with blue capris pants and a blue visor hat. “We have to wait for the ship’s crew to arrive. They will then direct us to the venue, where we will unload all of the dollies.” She motioned to her watch. “They are scheduled to meet us at exactly 10 AM. Five and a half minutes from now.”

“Aww.” Ruby pouted and looked down the long pier. She and the rest of the loading crew were standing in the shadow of the ship, but she could just make out the cars parked at the far end. She saw a rusted yellow blob that, upon further inspection, turned out to be a rusted yellow van.

~~~

Taiyang’s worn out van stopped at the curb by the pier. The old, yellow rustbucket sat idle for a moment before it suspiciously began to tremble. It quaked and shivered until a blur of pink and yellow exploded out of the side door. Yang and Nora tumbled onto the ground with a snack cake pinned between them. Yang sprang to her feet with the spongey morsel in her hands and Nora was climbing all over her trying to get it back.

“Yaaang! I had it first-ah!”

“Yeah except you’ve already eaten like half the box. I only got one!”

“You two are acting like children.” Weiss shuffled up to the back of the van and popped the door open. She was dressed down in a gray sleeveless top. “Besides, those things aren’t even that good.”

Yang held the mangled cake in her left hand while Nora dangled from the bionic prosthetic on her right. Nora resorted to pouting. Yang flipped a latch on her robotic arm and it fell to the ground, along with the girl attached to it.

“I gotta _hand_ it to you, Nora. You put up a good fight.” She started pulling at the wrapper with her teeth while she talked. “But I grew up with Ruby and Zwei. Your puppy dog eyes need some work.”

“Yang, are you kidding me?” Taiyang had moved around to the back to help unload. “That thing is expensive! I’m gonna glue it on to you if you don’t start taking better care of it.”

Yang giggled. “Sorry, Dad.” She basked in her victory for a moment before noticing that her remaining hand felt suspiciously light… and empty. “Wait, huh?! Where did…”

Yang whipped around to see Blake behind her, chewing. She was all stupid and gorgeous with her dumb black crop top and stupid idiot white shorts. One cat ear twitched as she licked her finger and winked. She sauntered up and placed the wrapper on Yang’s head.

“C’mon. Let’s grab our stuff,” Blake said with a subtle bit of sass. Yang could only stand there frowning and blushing and then frowning harder because she was blushing.

“Ugh. Hold on, where is—“ Yang turned back to see Nora standing at the edge of the pier, dangling her state-of-the-art prosthetic over the water. Murder was in the girl’s eyes.

“Give me a reason not to, goldilocks.”

“Will you two stop messing around?” Taiyang griped. “I’m not gonna unload all of this junk for y—“

“All done, Mr. Xiao Long, sir!” Penny gave a playful salute as she stood among a neat assemblage of bags and instruments. They had been inexplicably transferred from the back of Tai’s van onto the sidewalk in no time flat. Tai couldn’t formulate a response.

Penny had on a light yellow t-shirt and blue star-printed sleep pants. They had all just finished a four-hour-long drive from Shade University (where they had stayed the night), so the girls were wearing clothes that doubled as pajamas. Yang wore a white printed tee with the sleeves cut off and teal shorts. Nora was sporting a white and pink striped tank top with workout pants.

The group just stood and stared at Penny for a moment before Yang broke the silence. “Welp, time to get underway!” Yang marched toward her stuff with a big grin, and was immediately met with a metal limb to the face. Nora cheerfully skipped over the pile of Yang that she had left on the ground.

“Sorry, Yang. I just figured that you might need a _hand_ with your luggage. Heehee~”

~~~

The pier was quite wide— wide enough so that people had room enough to walk around the mass of college kids that had started to coagulate around him. He had no qualms with putting mouthy people in their place, it was just trouble that he didn’t care to deal with if he could avoid it.

The loading crew was in sight and had started making their way over. Sun’s entourage had just showed up—their fearless leader tentatively shuffled up to Yatsuhashi. Yatsuhashi flicked the kid on the forehead. Taiyang’s sorry excuse for a vehicle peeled out and was conveniently replaced by the small bus that was meant to bring the stragglers that couldn’t arrange chauffeurs of their own. The remaining youngsters started to file out. Flynt, Arslan, Reese… Jaune. Well, the boy left the bus with more of a stumble. He covered his mouth and made a beeline for the nearest trash can. Pyrrha followed after him like some kind of lost puppy. Big shocker there. All that’s left are… ah. There they are.

Ms. Cinder Fall glided out of the bus, the sunlight reflecting from her orange sundress like a flame. Emerald and Mercury were, of course, right behind her. Emerald wore a dingy green crop top and cargo capris, while Mercury had on a tight, black polyester t-shirt with gray shorts. They walked slowly in a v formation, like they were walking away from a goddamn movie explosion or something.

“Alright, alright! Form up. We don’t have all day here!” He looked over to the trashcan. “Nikos! Wrangle vomit boy over this way, wouldya?” Roman tapped his cane against the wooden walkway.

“The loading crew has places to be, so I’m gonna keep this short and sweet.” Professor Torchwick surveyed the small crowd that had formed around him. It was a bunch of overgrown kids reeking of sunscreen and loaded down with bulky luggage and musical instruments. “I—oh, wait. How could I forget? We are still missing one indispensable person.”

Right on cue, an enormous rev sounded from over the side of the pier. A gush of water ran up against the railing, soaking the attendant to the jet ski rental. Before the poor man could even move to wipe his face, a familiar, tiny, three-tone woman in a frilly black and white one-piece swimsuit dropped the rental keys into his hand with a smirk.

“Neo! About time.” Roman tossed her a beach towel from his bag. “We were just about to start without you.” She grabbed the towel from out of the air and gently dabbed her face. Then, while she had everyone’s rapt attention, she swirled the towel around herself in a whirlwind. In the next second, her swimwear had transformed into her normal black and white suit, the towel had transfigured into her signature umbrella, and a small white suitcase materialized at her side. Passerby that saw the spectacle stood in stunned silence for a moment, then began to clap and cheer. Neo took a bow. The students clapped and Velvet got a picture of the whole scene, but they were all used to her antics. She’d pulled too many lien from behind too many ears for it to have the same impact on them. “Now, if you’re done showing off, we’ve got business to discuss.”

Roman turned back to the students as Neo, his TA, shuffled up beside him. “Now listen up. It took a lot of smooth talk and ass kissing to get this trip green lit and payed for. Not to mention the favors that I had to call in to get all of us that free night stay at Shade University. But after all the grief and bureaucracy, we are _finally_ here.” Roman faced the bleached-white ocean fortress that, from where they were standing, eclipsed half of the sky. “For the next three months, this is your home, your playground, and your stage.” He turned back. “It’ll be a blast, but let me just tell ya, my name is the one that’s plastered on the front of every ‘Vytal University Jazz Orchestra’ pamphlet. So don’t go and give your dear old director any cause to worry, alright?”

Everyone started to chatter and fidget at the thought of finally embarking on the trip that they’d been anticipating for months. Roman continued. “As much as I shudder at the thought, everyone here is, technically, an adult. And _since_ we’re all adults here, I’m gonna lay out the ground rules as straightforward as possible. You’ve got your itineraries, your show schedules, your meal vouchers, and your check-in info. I’m not gonna hold your hand. You’ll probably have more freedom here than your mommies and daddies have ever let you have in the past. Show up to performances and rehearsals when you’re meant to, and everything will be…” he straightened his coat, “…smooth sailing.” He chuckled. Half of the band doubled over in agony.

“Oh, and if even one of you punks gets knocked up or arrested, I will personally throw each and every one of you overboard. You can’t play music with morning sickness, and we sure as hell can’t afford bail.”

“You got it, boss!” Yang piped up. Ruby squeaked in agreement.

“Neo, anything to add?” Roman looked over to his second-in-command. She put her hand to her chin in contemplation. Everyone leaned in, wondering if she might actually say something. She pulled a pair of sunglasses from out of nowhere, put them on, then pointed toward the ship with her umbrella.

“Party time!” Ruby shouted. The whole group erupted into cheers and started to migrate.

“Loading time.” Ciel grabbed Ruby by the shirt and tugged her over to where the ship crew was waiting. Most people were eager to make their way onboard, but Scarlet and Neptune hung behind.

“Alright. How are the sea legs so far?” Scarlet walked slowly, staying within arm’s reach of his wobbly companion.

“Are you sure that the pier isn’t moving. Because… I kind of feel like it is.” Neptune did his best to brace himself against the imaginary swaying.

“You’re okay. Just put your hand on my shoulder. We’ll run through some exercises when we get up to the room.” Sun and Sage looked back in concern. Scarlet reassured them with a thumbs up.

“Okay. Yeah. Right.” Neptune steadied himself on Scarlet with his free hand. “You really are the best, you know that?” He tried hard to sound sincere in spite of the only-slightly-subdued panic that was running through him.

“Mhm.”

“Dude. I mean it.”

“Yeah.“ Scarlet grinned and chuckled to himself. He had a distant look in his eye. “I know you do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes for music nerds. I recommend googling any characters/ instruments that you're not familiar with.
> 
> Director: Roman  
> Director: Neo (TA)
> 
> TRUMPETS  
> Trumpet 1 (lead): Flynt  
> Trumpet 2 (split lead): Penny  
> Trumpet 3: Sage  
> Trumpet 4 (solo): Mercury  
> Trumpet 5: Nora (percussion major, loves the timpani lol)
> 
> TROMBONES  
> Trombone 1 (lead): Pyrrha  
> Trombone 2 (split lead): Jaune  
> Trombone 3: Emerald  
> Trombone 4: Arslan  
> Bass Trombone: Yang
> 
> SAXOPHONES  
> Alto 1: Scarlet  
> Alto 2: Blake  
> Tenor 1: Coco  
> Tenor 2: Neptune  
> Bari: Reese
> 
> RHYTHM SECTION/ VOCALISTS  
> Piano/ Keyboard: Ren  
> Vibraphone: Neon  
> Bass: Ruby  
> Drums: Ciel/ Sun  
> Guitar: Velvet  
> Vocalist: Weiss/ Cinder
> 
> CREW  
> Yatsuhashi (plays cello)/ Fox (plays piano)


	2. Jazz On the Rocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyooo. So this chapter has three seperate "scenes." The little ~~~ thing separates them. Let me know if you prefer this format or if I should release each scene as a smaller, standalone chapter.
> 
> tumblr: superduple.tumblr.com

The group was met with a cold rush of air as they passed check-in and opened the doors that led to the lobby. They passed into a wide, warmly-lit hallway punctuated by high wooden archways. Strangers walked together, shoulder to shoulder, through the corridor until it abruptly fanned out into a much larger space. The immense room was filled with small, colorful lights and brilliant brushstrokes of luminescent blue that swirled across a muted backdrop of shops, cafes, and small restaurants. Everyone’s voices melded into a subdued consensus of awe.

Those azure brushstrokes were aquariums—long and wide tubes that stretched and twisted from the ground into the walls and up to the staggeringly tall ceilings of the lobby. Inspection revealed spots in the floor that were the same glimmering shade. Pyrrha knelt down and gazed through one of the transparent floors. It was the main body of the tank, filled with rock formations, sand, and innumerable varieties of fish and other aquatic creatures. Small schools migrated through the suspended tubes, moving from one large aquarium to another, most likely. She watched with wonder as they paraded above her head.

“ _Wow_.” Jaune stood beside her. “That’s… _so cool._ ” Pyrrha smiled and took his arm in hers. They both wore comfy sweatshirts, which didn’t make sense to anyone besides Pyrrha, who had researched forums ahead of time and listened to people complain about how cold the interior parts of the ship could be. The two took in the surreal moment in relative silence, until Ruby broke their trance.

“Yang! Look at the turtle! It’s so cute!” Ruby put her face up to one of the tubes that came up from the floor. A small sea turtle with a bright yellow shell and face hovered in front of her, treading back and forth curiously. Yang shuffled over.

“Awww, it is! Look at its wittle face. I think it likes you!” She pressed her face close to Ruby’s. “You should give it a name!”

Ruby gasped at the idea and then winced in contemplation. “Hmm… Aiyang!”

“Haha, what?”

“Well… uhm… it’s yellow! It reminds me of you and Dad. We can call it Ai!” Ruby turned around to gauge the turtle’s opinion. “How does Ai sound?” The turtle didn’t respond. Ruby’s eyes narrowed and her expression grew more and more intense. The turtle stared back, unblinking. The tension was palpable. Ruby was holding her breath and had started changing colors. All other sounds fell away, and just when the situation seemed to be at its peak, Aiyang let out a little stream of bubbles from her mouth.

“She likes it!!!” Ruby jumped alarmingly high in the air. She came back down with a thud and started panting after almost passing out from oxygen deprivation.

“Congrats!” Yang patted Ruby on the head and faced the newly knighted critter. “Guess this makes us family, kid.” She gave Ai a thumbs up. The turtle swam around in happy circles and darted off into the network of tubes. Yang crossed her arms as she watched her swim away. “Think we’ll see her again?”

Ruby sprang back up with her hands on her hips. “Of course we will! She probably misses us already.”

“Did you make a new friend?” Penny appeared behind Ruby, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Ahh! Penny!” Ruby jumped back in fright. “I—uh… yeah! When did…”

“That’s wonderful!” Penny scooted up uncomfortably close, or it would have been uncomfortable, if Ruby weren’t use to it. Penny took her by the hands. “You simply have to introduce me sometime!”

Ruby giggled to herself. “Of course I will. I just know you’ll hit it off.” She felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. It was Velvet.

“Ruby, come on. We have to keep up with the dollies so we’re there to unload.”

“Ahh! Sorry! There was just this super cute turtle! I named it Aiyang because it’s yellow and I actually bet that you’d really like—“

Velvet put her finger to Ruby’s lips. “Tell me about it while we’re walking.” She took Ruby by the wrist and led her after the rest of the loading crew. “You’re lucky that I grabbed you before Ciel noticed.” Ruby waved back to Yang and Penny with a silly smile.

“What are we gonna do with her?” Yang shot a smirk at Penny.

Penny put a hand to her chest. “Love and cherish her, of course.”

Yang laughed and play-punched Penny on the shoulder. Penny reciprocated. Yang hit the ground.

“Okay…” Yang groaned, “this is becoming a pattern, and I do not approve.”

~~~

Reese flopped onto the bed beside the glass door to the balcony.

“Dibs!” She sprawled out across the queen-sized bed. The room was pretty huge. There was another bed closer to the bathroom, along with a large couch that apparently folded out into a full-size. Arslan tossed her bag onto the remaining bed as Emerald moved to inspect the bathroom. Neon dropped her things haphazardly on the ground and made a beeline for the glass doors. She slid them open and stepped outside, embracing the sun and the smell of the ocean with open arms.

“This is so awesome! How cool is it that we all get rooms that overlook the sea like this?” She leaned on the railing and closed her eyes. “I’d totally just sleep out here if I wouldn’t get all sticky from the salt.” Back inside, Arslan stubbed her toe and let out a quiet squeak.

“Argh, Neon! Could you move your junk literally anywhere else?”

Neon came back in with a sour expression. “On second thought, there’s plenty of salt in here, too.” Reese sat up.

“Hey, chill out. This is gonna be fun!” She pulled the hood of her purple hooded tee over her head. Neon pushed her stuff against the wall with her foot. “So! Arslan and I have staked our claim. Where are you sleeping, Neon?”

Neon shrugged. “I’m not too picky.”

Arslan sat on her bed and brushed the wrinkles out of her flowy, light pink blouse. “What about you, Em?” she asked as Emerald rounded the corner. She leaned against the wall.

“I definitely prefer to sleep alone, if that’s okay. I can take the fold out bed. It’s pretty big, anyway.” Emerald ran her hand over one of her two long strands of hair. Reese affectionately referred to them as her “feelers.”

“Hmmm.” Neon contemplated with a finger on her cheek. She was wearing her normal outfit: a tank top with a pink skirt. Her tail whisked back and forth.

“So that means that I get to bunk with Reese, or I get to bunk with Arslan.” She grinned. “Sooo, who’s gonna be the lucky lady?~” Before the thought was out of her mouth, the two of them had their fists extended, ready for a game of rock-paper-scissors. They both sat forward and eyed each other with fiery determination. Emerald rolled her eyes.

Round one… Arslan!

Round two… Reese!

The two of them didn’t dare break their gaze, or even blink. Sweat formed on their brows as Neon leaned in closer. They reeled back—Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!

Arslan chose rock. And Reese… chose scissors. Reese collapsed backwards and let out exaggerated sobs of agony. Arslan just crossed her arms and smiled.

“Oh wow! I’ve never had two girls fight over me before!” Neon squeaked and twitched and giggled out of self-satisfaction. “Sorry Reese, maybe I’ll sleep in your bed one night as a consolation prize~” She skipped over to Arslan.

“What are you talking about?” Arslan leaned back on the bed.

“What do you mean? You won, right?”

Reese recovered from her tailspin of turmoil. “Eheh… well… actually…” She shifted her butt uncomfortably. “We were, uh, playing to see who would get a bed to themselves.” She winced and gave an apologetic grin. “Sorry.”

“Wait, what?!”

Arslan laughed, apparently amused by Neon’s abrupt change in temperament. “It’s nothing personal! Everyone likes space, right?” Neon didn’t buy it, probably because Arslan sounded anything but sincere.

“That’s SO messed up! You guys are like actually really hurting my feelings right now.” Neon’s eyes started to water and you could hear her throat tensing up like she was about to cry. Arslan could hardly take her seriously, but decided not to push it anymore. Emerald let out an exasperated sigh and plopped down onto the couch with a magazine that she’d found. Neon continued to pout and Reese scooted up to the edge of the bed.

“Hey.” Reese patted the bed. “Come here.” Neon turned away slightly and pouted harder. Reese repeated, with emphasis. “ _Hey_. Come here, sit down.” Neon eyed her suspiciously for a moment, but eventually scooted over and sat down with her arms still crossed. Reese looked over at Arslan, who was giving her the biggest “don’t you even think about it” stare that she could muster. Reese smiled and winked. Arslan let out a groan and grabbed the TV remote.

“I’m sorry. We really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Reese put her arm around Neon, who growled in protest. “I’m serious!” Neon continued to pout and look away. “Neon. Come on, look at me. Please?” Neon sighed, then turned and glared daggers into Reese’s skull. Reese recoiled for a second but quickly managed to recompose herself and hug Neon closer. “I’ll make it up to you.”

Neon’s expression softened, but only slightly. “Oh, really? And how’s that?”

“I’ll let you steal all of the covers tonight,” she offered with a sly smile. Neon thought for a moment, then abruptly placed her head on Reese’s shoulder and cuddled up close to her. Reese’s heart jumped. She could feel her entire face flushing red. This was absolutely not how these things normally went.

“Make it all week.” Neon’s hair tickled Reese’s chin. “Then we can call it even.”

“I—uh, okay? That’s fine I guess?”

Neon sprung up onto her feet with renewed vigor.

“Then it’s a deal!” She spun around and glided into the center of the room. Reese sat with a dumfounded look on her face, her pulse still pounding. Neon started to buzz. “Alright! Now we should all go and check out what’s nearby. We still have a few hours before our sound check, so I’m gonna go ahead and take first turn in the bathroom to freshen up!” Neon zipped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Arslan turned her attention away from the TV and shot Reese a sardonic smile. Emerald looked away from her magazine for a moment, but quickly decided that she still wasn’t all that interested in what was happening.

Reese could only sit in awe as one solitary thought bounced around in her head.

_Did someone just… out-flirt me?!_

~~~

“That is an objectively terrible idea.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me that you’re not at least a _little bit_ curious.”

Yatsuhashi leaned his elbow on the table and rubbed his temples in an effort to stave off the headache that Sun was bringing on.

“If you do it, take pictures,” Fox chimed in.

“Ha! Yeah, total—wait. Fox, can you see pictures?”

Fox turned his head vaguely in Sun’s direction, paused, then said in complete monotone, “That was the joke.”

Sun scratched his head and laughed nervously. “Well, I for one am curious. I mean, how in the world would it be possible for you to get a lightbulb _into_ your mouth, but then not be able to get it back out again? It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Don’t try it.” Yatsu paused. “And so help me gods, if you convince someone ELSE to try it,” he shot a warning look at Sun. “I will hold you personally responsible.”

“Alright, alright—calm down.” Sun flopped into another seat at the round, black marble table. “Sure is a nice place, though, huh?”

The currently empty venue was called _A Sip Through Time and Space_. It was a restaurant and bar that boasted the most impressive stage out of all the eateries on the ship. It was a large space with three different levels situated in an asymmetrical pattern. It had dark wood floors, brick walls, and black marble accents that matched the stage and tables. The bar was on the top level, along with pool tables, dart boards, and a few slot machines. The middle level had the most seating, with the door to the kitchens off to the side of it. The band was situated on the stage at the bottom level, which was surrounded by smaller tables and a few couches spaced out against the walls.

“Alright, alright. We’re taking it back to the top of the solo section. It’s a blues. Trombones and saxes, please show me that you can reliably count to twelve.” Roman rustled through the music score on his stand then turned to Ciel on the drum set. “Ciel! The time felt pretty good, don’t you think?”

Ciel perked up. “Uhm, right. Mostly.” She, for all intents and purposes, had a perfect sense of tempo. In her first year, some professors made the mistake of challenging her on that topic, only to be calmly picked apart and made a fool of in front of their students and colleagues. Now that she was in her junior year, the staff knew to defer to her on questions of tempo accuracy. It was rumored that she always knew exactly what time of day it was, and only used her watch to test herself.

She looked down at her drumsticks for a moment before continuing. “The horn section stayed much closer to the correct tempo on that rep.” She paused, a slight look of disappointment wrinkling her face. “I’m afraid that my backbeat was slightly overzealous on the second chorus, however. I rushed by a margin of 2 bpm for half of Coco’s solo, though no one seemed to notice. I’ll be more mindful in the future.”

Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably. Roman fidgeted for a moment, unsure of what to say, but finally broke the silence. “Uhh, right. Don’t beat yourself up over it, kid. We’re all human, here.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway! Back to the top of the solos. Two choruses for Merc, two for Coco. Horns, I’m gonna need you to get your heads on straight and play those backgrounds _when you’re supposed to_.” Roman ran the piece from the solo section. Sun was still talking at Fox and Yatsu at one of the tables, and Neo was reclining on a sofa. Weiss and Cinder were having a rather detached conversation up at the bar.

The last few bars of the song were loud enough to shake the walls. The sound rang for a moment after the last note, then Roman clapped his hands together. “Finally! Not too shabby, people. Now, change up personnel and get set up for “Kevin and the Mountain.”” He looked up to the bar. “Cinder! You’re up!” The band let out a collective groan as they started to shuffle their music. The previous chart, “Once Upon a Moon,” was a straightforward blues. “Kevin and the Mountain,” on the other hand, was an absolute pain to put together. Ciel stood up from the drums and stretched; Sun came over to tag in.

“Hey, Ciel. You were rockin’ it! Seriously. Nice work.” Sun gave her a big smile and a thumbs up. Ciel still seemed down.

“Oh, uh, thank you. I appreciate it.” She finally decided to force a grin and make eye contact. “I could’ve—ah. Nevermind. Just, um, thank you.” Penny had been encouraging her to accept compliments without adding any negativity.

Sun could feel her insincerity. He had instincts for that sort of thing, but it would have been obvious even if he didn’t. “Y’know, I really don’t know why I’m the one playing this chart.” He put his hands behind his head and looked off to the side. “I can’t handle this complicated stuff nearly as well as you can.” Ciel was caught slightly off guard.

“Of course you can! Don’t say that!” She put her hands on her hips, then started pointing her finger. “And besides, it’s always important to work outside of your comfort zone. Don’t psyche yourself out.”

Sun chuckled. “Thanks! That’s some good advice.” He patted her on the arm and gave her a soft look. “Hey. While you’re at it, why don’t you cut yourself some slack, too? You gotta focus more on the positives.” She gave him a puzzled look, but after a moment, she caught what he was saying and sighed. Then she gave him a more genuine smile.

“Gotcha. Will do.”

Sun was satisfied with that. “Alright now, stand back.” He reached into his shirt with his tail and pulled out a pair of drumsticks. “It’s time that I show this chart from hell who’s boss.” Cinder was fiddling with the vocal mic, and everyone else was ready to go. Neo had made it over to the front of the band and was fumbling a bit with the conductor’s stand to bring it down to her level.

Neo’s presence as a conductor was much different from Roman’s. She was more animated in her movements, by necessity, since she never spoke. She could communicate most things nonverbally, and carried a whiteboard around to convey everything else. Even the repertoire they picked was vastly different. Roman tended to pick groove-oriented charts that required as little conducting from him as possible. Neo, on the other hand, chose things like “Kevin and the Mountain,” which qualified as a full cardio workout for the conductor and a mental triathlon for the players.   

Neo tapped the stand with her baton, an accessory that most jazz directors never bothered with. She had an air of authority about her. When Neo was relaxed, the band was relaxed. When Neo put her hands up, everyone knew to be silent and at the ready. She subtly raised her hands and scanned the ensemble.

Directly in front of her was the horn section, with the saxophones seated in front. From left to right, it was Neptune and Coco on tenor, Scarlet on lead alto, Blake on second alto, and Reese rocking the bari. The trombones sat on a riser behind the saxophones, and the trumpets stood behind them. Arslan, Emerald, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Yang made up the trombone section. Pyrrha and Jaune split the lead parts, and Yang held down the bass trombone. As for the trumpets, Flynt was the lead player, occasionally splitting with Penny. The other three were Mercury, Sage, and then Nora. They were a ragtag group from radically different musical backgrounds, but they had managed to come together as a rather professional-sounding ensemble in a short amount of time.

Just when everyone was centered and ready for the downbeat, an otherworldly screech came from the direction of the rhythm section. They were situated to the left, if you were looking directly at the band. Neo put her hands down and shot an exasperated look over at Ruby, who was frantically fiddling with her amp. She muttered apologies between aggravated grunts.

“I, uh, sorry! I’m fixing it, don’t worry! It’s totally fine!” The rest of the rhythm section sighed in unison. Ruby was trying to deal with her technical difficulties while wrangling her enormous upright bass. It was taller than most people, but Ruby looked especially tiny by comparison. Ren was at the piano, staring at Ruby blankly. Velvet was seated with her guitar in her lap, while Neon tapped out a song on her vibraphone with the quiet end of her mallets. Sun was using his drumstick to measure how far he could open his jaw. For science. Putting lightbulbs anywhere near his mouth was the farthest thing from his mind.

“Can we get this goin’ sometime today?” Flynt remarked in Ruby’s general direction. Penny nudged him on the arm.

“Be nice, Flynt. Ruby is trying her best.” She gave him a disapproving frown.

“I’m sure she is.” Flynt had temporarily ditched his hat and shades in favor of his black, square frame glasses. He had on a hooded suit jacket with a neat white button-up underneath.  Coco had remarked on how ridiculous a suit jacket with a hood was on their pre-cruise group shopping trip, so Flynt bought it out of spite. Penny had changed from her PJs into a light green sundress.

The screeching finally abated and Ruby stood up straight with a plastic smile. “There we go! All better.” The rest of the room stared at her in judgmental silence. “Eheh… heh. Let’s play some jams!”

Neo sighed and faced the ensemble with slightly less vigor than the first time. Everyone readied up and waited for the cue. She let the silence overtake the room for a moment, then snapped three times. Sun set everyone up with a loud fill and the band responded with a flashy brass fanfare punctuated by cutting interjections from the saxes. Weiss tapped her finger lightly against the table. She had come down from the bar to sit with Fox, Yatsu, and Ciel.

“Well this certainly sounds better than it did a month ago.” Weiss had to half yell over the music.

“It certainly does. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know that jazz ensembles played literature this difficult,” Yatsu remarked. “Ignorance on my part.” Fox sat and listened to the band in silence. Ciel drew on the table with her finger.

“You play in orchestra, right?” Weiss questioned Yatsu.

“I do. Cello.” Yatsu and Fox were on the trip to help transport equipment, at Velvet’s recommendation. They agreed since, frankly, it meant a free luxury cruise. Weiss played clarinet in their school’s orchestra occasionally, but it was a very large ensemble. It was understandable if you didn’t know everyone.

“What about you, Fox?” Weiss leaned on the table. “Are you into music?”

Fox turned his head toward her slightly, then nodded. “I play piano.”

“Oh, classical?”

“Not as much. Mostly jazz. Ren has much more classical training than I do.”

“You should hear him play.” Yatsu interjected and sat back in his chair. “He can bring you to tears if he feels like it.” Fox chuckled at that.

“Did you try out for this band?” Weiss asked. “Forgive me if I’m asking too many questions.” The song came to a quieter section. She winced after hearing herself almost shout for no reason.

“No, actually. A group like this requires a lot of sight reading. I play by ear.”

Weiss cupped her hand over her mouth. “Oh! I’m… sorry. I should’ve…”

Fox closed his eyes and chuckled again. “Don’t worry about it.” He sat up straight. His voice was low and mellow, but had just a hint of roughness. “My implants let me see shapes and movement, but nothing two-dimensional. I just can’t read the music.”

“R-Right.” Despite Fox’s even temperament, Weiss couldn’t help but be embarrassed. She could feel blood rushing to her cheeks. And her neck. And then her arms. She cursed her snow-white complexion and tried to covertly hide her face in her hand.

Ciel perked up. “Cinder’s part is coming up!” She sat forward in her seat with rapt attention. Weiss welcomed the change of focus.

The ensemble rode a huge crescendo into a loud, dissonant chord. Neo let the wall of sound ring, then gave a dramatic cut off. The room was left teetering on a pin-drop silence. After a moment of anticipation, Cinder brought her lips up to the microphone. She took a deep breath and delivered three lavish notes on three honeyed syllables.

“ _Crim—son—skyyy.”_ The line wafted across the room. Ren answered with a gentle chord and Sun set the groove with brushstrokes against his snare drum.

Ciel’s mouth started to droop open a bit. “Wow.”

Cinder’s performance solicited similar reactions from everyone listening. The room seemed to relax, build, and sway along with the shape of her lines. Weiss sat back, captivated.

“I’ve… never heard her sing before.” She almost whispered, for fear of poking a hole in the atmosphere.

Ciel broke her gaze and turned to Weiss. “She’s wonderful, right? I couldn’t believe it when they said she’d be going on the trip with us.” Her face scrunched up with a question. “You’re a vocalist, too. I thought that you might know each other.” Cinder and Weiss had both practiced with the band on their individual songs, but they had never been at the same rehearsal together.

“Well, Cinder was apparently recovering from vocal cord surgery until recently. Ruby suggested me to Torchwick as a replacement, before consulting me, I might add.” She stirred her drink with her straw. “I had already started practicing with the group when we got word of her recovery, so Torchwick decided to bring both of us. Apparently he’d squeezed more tickets from the administration than he had a use for.” The stirring stopped. “I don’t have much experience with jazz music, though.”

Ciel sensed the feelings of inadequacy that had started to bubble up in Weiss. “Oh! Don’t… uhm… Your songs are beautiful, as well!” She fumbled for the right words. “It’s not—No one is trying to compare the two of you or anything!”

Through Ciel’s rambling, Weiss realized how transparent her expression must have been. She gave Ciel a soft smile. Ciel smiled back in relief.

“You have a wonderful voice.”

Weiss giggled at the effort. “Thank you.” She turned back to the band. “This will be a good opportunity to learn and expand on my repertoire.”

The subdued, sensual tone of the music faded. The band shifted into another uproarious sequence, this time with a fiery vocal melody laced through it. The chorus coasted along smoothly until the saxophones fumbled over an especially technical soli section. Roman winced, then teased them from a couch after the group had stopped.

“Hey, yeah, that didn’t sound too great.”

Neo smiled and pointed a finger gun at him, then turned to the saxophone section leader with a stern look.

Scarlet frowned. “Yeah. That could definitely use some work. Our bad.” Blake smiled at Scarlet’s indifference and Neptune rubbed his head in embarrassment. Neo scanned the saxophone section with her finger and held up her whiteboard, which read “Bar 165.” She had Sun click out a slightly slower tempo and the saxophones started drilling the section. The rest of the band sat back and relaxed.

Yang was doodling something on a scrap of paper. It was a crudely drawn heart with a cartoony rendition of herself and Blake in the center. She folded the paper until it was tiny and then tossed it into Blake’s hair. Blake’s ear twitched involuntarily, but she couldn’t do anything about it while she was playing. Yang giggled as Blake’s ears lowered in anger. Jaune saw Yang’s antics and, without realizing her flirty intentions, decided to join in. He grabbed some empty staff paper from his folder and started ripping. Yang saw what he was doing, but decided it would be more entertaining not to stop him.

Jaune and Yang giggled as piece after piece clung onto Blake’s hair for dear life. Pyrrha tried to dissuade them with a look of disapproval, but ended up cracking a smile at Jaune’s juvenile satisfaction.

Blake started to shake with annoyance, and as soon as the last rep ended, she whipped around. “Would you two knock it o—“ She was cut off by a shrill sound whistling past her head.

Jaune was pinned to the back of his chair. He looked on in horror at the stack of papers that he had shielded himself with just in the nick of time. The stack was impaled by a conductor’s baton, the tip stopping just millimeters from his throat. Neo pushed past Blake and Reese and stomped right up to him. She brought her face within inches of his, then viciously yanked her baton free without breaking eye contact. She paused, smiled, then left him there. All the color had been drained from his face. He started melting in his seat like a pile of putty that had been left out in the sun all day.

Reese leaned over and started to brush the paper out of Blake’s hair. Yang gently grabbed Reese by the wrist and gave her an unamused look.

“Alright, geez. My bad.” Reese raised her hands and turned back. Blake reluctantly allowed Yang to brush out the remaining pieces.

Yang got up close and whispered. “Hey. Are you mad?” Blake could hear her smiling. She turned back with a glare.

“What do you think?” she murmured. Yang managed to locate her drawing among Blake’s gentle curls. She handed it to her.

“Well don’t be.” Blake unfolded the paper. She looked over the adorable drawing, fighting back the smile that was tugging at her lips. Yang grinned wider. “Because you’ve got me _feline_ like the luckiest girl in the world.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who still doesn't know what certain instruments are, I've got you covered:
> 
> Scarlet and Blake play this:  
> http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server4400/8346c/products/4510/images/4282/YAS-26__74125.1338835743.694.700.jpg?c=2
> 
> Neptune and Coco play this:  
> https://storage.googleapis.com/saperemarketing/chesbroretail/2015/06/light-saxophone-tenor-professionnel-yamaha-yts-verni-2.jpg
> 
> Though Coco's is gonna look more like this:  
> https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0733/5373/products/sax_3_of_42_2048x2048.jpg?v=1448109543
> 
> Reese plays this:  
> https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-be2c1be3d76fe7883d7725a4c0e1ca9a-c
> 
> Pyrrha, Jaune, Emerald, and Arslan play this:  
> http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/images/band-orchestra-guides/allora-atb100m-aere-custom-plastic-trombone-800x373.jpg
> 
> Yang plays this:  
> https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0149/6436/products/XO_1240T_Bass_Trombone_large.jpg?v=1466799950
> 
> Flynt, Penny, Sage, Mercury, and Nora play this:  
> http://www.dirtcheepmusic.com/images/products/large/STRA_6418MS.jpg
> 
> Ren and Fox play this:  
> http://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/MDG-400-Baby-Grand-Digital-Piano/J21190000000000-00-500x500.jpg
> 
> Ruby plays this:  
> http://www.thomasmartin.co.uk/images/testimonials/chris-jennings-bass-player.jpg
> 
> Velvet plays this:  
> https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TUT_EQ3_wUI/maxresdefault.jpg
> 
> Neon plays this:  
> http://audiencepleasers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/vibraphone.png
> 
> Ciel and Sun play this:  
> http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/images/drumsbuying/yamaha-stage-custom-drum-kit.jpg
> 
> Yatsuhashi plays this:  
> https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/beautiful-cello-player-photo-female-musician-playing-35171638.jpg
> 
> Weiss and Cinder sing lol, but Weiss also plays this back home:  
> https://az58332.vo.msecnd.net/e88dd2e9fff747f090c792316c22131c/Images/Products1302-1200x1200-484659.jpg


	3. Bunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this was originally going to be one part of chapter three, but I'm a little stuck on what was supposed to be the second scene. I finished this scene quickly, so I thought that I would just release this as a smaller standalone chapter. I might do this again in the future depending on how long things take.

By this point, Reese could’ve bored two holes in the ceiling with how long and hard she had been staring at it. She laid in the dark with her hands on her stomach, wide awake and cold, while her roommates slept cozily. Arslan was snoring. Reese looked over at Neon, who was wrapped up to her ears in a cocoon of blankets. Neon’s red hair spread over her pillow in messy waves. It was surprisingly long. Reese puffed up her cheeks and scowled at the ceiling. Neon was completely serious about their deal, apparently. Reese’s pride had kept her from backing down, but she was freezing and minutes had started to tick away into a solid hour. She huffed quietly and turned over toward Neon.

“Hey. Neon.” She shook her gently, near where her shoulder would be if it weren’t encased in three layers of cover. “Heyy. Wake up.” Neon shuffled a bit, and after a moment turned over to look at Reese.

“Huh?”

Reese just laid there for a moment, not making eye contact. She could hardly keep from shivering in her tee shirt and thin pink sleep pants. She cuddled her legs up close enough to look just slightly pitiful, but still cool and detached. At least, that was how she pictured it in her head.

“What is it?” Neon was genuinely groggy. She was actually sleeping like a log while Reese suffered right next to her. Reese tried to feel outrage but for some reason couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t actually all that surprising.

Reese furrowed her brow. Neon was finally lucid enough to see what was going on, and her face slowly pulled into a mischievous grin. “Oh, you’re not getting cold, are you?” she whispered.

The brow furrowed harder and Reese crossed her arms. Neon leaned in closer, her smugness increasing as she burrowed deeper into the sheets.

“Neon. Come on.” Reese tried to sound assertive in a hushed tone.

“This was your idea, remember? Unless you really didn’t mean it.” Neon put on an exaggerated frown. “You just wanted to be nasty to me and not actually make up for it.”

“Come _on._ I’ll never get to sleep like this.” Reese curled up fully into a ball and scooted as close to Neon as she could. She could feel the warmth radiating.

“If you do take-backs on the covers, you’ll still have to make things up to me.”

“Fine! Whatever.” Her voice could barely be considered a whisper at this point.

“And I get to decide how.”

Reese looked up at her and narrowed her eyes. “It had better not be something weird.”

Neon’s smile contorted into something distinctly feline. “I guess we’ll just have to see.”

She felt dread building in the pit of her stomach, but finally conceded. Neon unraveled and spread the sheets over both of them. Reese reveled in the warmth for a moment, then turned back over to face Neon. She was laying with her hands behind her head staring at the ceiling with a bemused look.

Reese grimaced. “What. What are you thinking about.”

Neon glanced back with an off-putting smile. “Just… brainstorming.” Reese shuddered slightly. They shared uncomfortable eye contact for a moment before Reese felt something fuzzy wrapping around her lower leg. She let out a very alarmed chirp but covered her mouth before it turned into a full-on scream. It took her a few terrifying seconds to realize that Neon’s tail was working its way down to her ankle. She tried to kick it off.

“What the hell are y—“ Neon pulled up close to her—close enough that she could feel her breath on her chin. Reese’s heart rate shot up even higher than it was earlier. The air froze in her lungs.

“Hey,” Neon teased. Reese could feel her pulse throbbing through every inch of her body. Their noses touched. Her thoughts cascaded into a muddled up mess of hot fuzz. Their foreheads gently bumped together, and Neon tangled one of Reese’s feet up with her own. “…What shoe size are you?”

Reese’s breath came out in little staccato bursts. She could barely process what Neon asked, let alone form words.

“Aww, cat got your tongue?” She continued playing footsie. “You seem to be about… a size eight. Am I right?”

“Wha—what does that h-have to do with…”

Neon lightly pushed closer. She poked Reese in the stomach, which made her jump. Neon’s smile grew and her eyes narrowed. “Tell—me—if—I’m—right~”

“I… yeah, okay! I’m a size eight!”

Neon pulled back. “Oh, nice! Same as me.” She scooted all the way back to her side of the bed. “Now I know how we’re going to settle things.” She giggled softly and rustled her hand through Reese’s hair. “Sleep tight, I’m getting you up early.” Neon turned over.

Reese just laid there in shock. Her breathing was still heavy and her blood was pumping through her veins at about 110 mph. And Neon was just lying there, unbothered.

_She is tormenting me on purpose. That little asshole is getting off on this!_

Despite her frustration, she still couldn’t shake the amorous fog that had engulfed her mind and body. She wanted to… well. She wanted to do a few things.

“By the way.” Neon turned back over. Reese’s eyes bugged out like a deer in headlights. “You jumped when I poked you. You’re not ticklish, are you?”

Reese inched away and put her arms around her stomach. “No.”

Neon scooted closer. “Are you sure?”

“Do not.”

“Oh I’m gonna.”

Neon pounced on Reese, but before either of them could do anything, an unknown force brimming with enmity bounded onto their bed. They looked up in horror and found a pair of red eyes blazing with murderous intent. After a couple of seconds, they realized that it was Emerald standing on their bed, but that made it more scary, not less. Emerald grabbed both of them by the collar and pulled them up off their feet.

“I swear… to god. If I hear. One. More. Sound. From this bed tonight, I will not be held responsible for what I do to the two of you.” The pair of them twitched and trembled helplessly. Arslan sat up.

Reese looked over to her in desperation. “Arsy! Help! Please!”

Arslan sat at the edge of the bed with her eyes mostly shut. The left side of her blonde mane stuck straight out in every possible direction. She yawned, rubbed her eye, then got up. She walked around her bed and over to the bathroom, the other three staring at her silently the whole time.

A moment of silence.

The rushing sound of liquid hitting liquid.

More silence.

The toilet flushed, and the sink ran. Then it turned off.

The door opened.

Arslan zombie-walked back to her bed and laid down. The other three continued to stare at her.

…

Snoring.

The terrified pair of shameless flirts turned back to meet the gaze of death incarnate. Death was feeling grumpy.


	4. Forest Flower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. Sorry for dropping off the face of the planet.
> 
> To be perfectly honest, I've sort of lost my love for RWBY after volume 5, and my drive to write for it has, of course, taken a nosedive. I don't mean to be overly negative, I just wanted to let you know why I stopped updating. If you still love the show, then great! I'm happy that you enjoy it!
> 
> Despite my feelings, I have really missed writing in this au setting with these characters, so I've decided to block out my negative thoughts and just focus on writing this light-hearted narrative for my own enjoyment, as well as yours (hopefully)! This will likely be the only RWBY fic that I update now, though. Chapters will be as short as necessary for me to keep the project as low-stress as possible.
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

“So.” Flynt broke the silence. “You do this often?”

He and Ren were sitting in a courtyard, enjoying a quiet that was only attainable in secret corners of the ship. It was a pleasant area with grass, flowers, small ponds with gently trickling waterfalls, and two palm trees. The air was open to the clear blue sky, and tasted of salt. They were both dressed down in loose t-shirts and sweatpants, but Flynt still had his hat and sunglasses. Somehow, the look worked.

It was a few moments before Ren opened one eye and acknowledged him. “…Yes. Every morning, if I can.”

“Mm. Gotcha.” Flynt started absentmindedly pulling at the grass.

Ren relaxed in his posture slightly and turned more toward him. “It’s clear that you are not into this. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

Flynt adjusted his sunglasses. “No, no. I’m good.” He crossed his legs and sat up straight. “I’m just antsy. I don’t remember the last morning I spent… not practicing.” He chuckled softly. “It’s like, I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Ren winced slightly. “Is that… healthy? I mean practicing is great but… you really can’t remember?”

Flynt leaned back, pressing his palms into the ground. “It’s nothing that bad. I just have a system, and it works.” He looked around. “Surely there’s _somewhere_ I could go where people wouldn’t flip if I played for a bit.”

“Don’t you have one of those practice mutes? Like the one Mercury uses? I’m sure he’d let you borrow it, if you don’t.”

“What?” Flynt looked at Ren over his sunglasses, eyebrow cocked. “Nah, man. I hate those things. If you can’t hear your real sound, then you’re not really practicing.”

A small smile pulled across Ren’s face. “Alright. Why don’t we actually try to meditate some, in that case?”

“I thought you were already doing that.”

“Well, I have been _trying_ to.” Ren resumed his posture and closed his eyes. “But frankly, you have been distracting me.”

“Oh!” Flynt adjusted his hat. He felt his face flush slightly. “My bad. I didn’t realize.”

“It’s fine. Now, sit up straight and close your eyes.”

Flynt deflated for a moment, but finally copied Ren’s posture and closed his eyes. His attention immediately went to the discomfort of his tailbone against the ground, but after a couple of seconds, he drifted toward the distant sounds of people walking and chatting in other corners of the courtyard.

“Focus on your breath. In, and out. There are quite a few ways to meditate, but we will be focusing on mindfulness. If your mind wanders, acknowledge it, but then let the thought fall away. Always come back to your breathing.” Ren’s tone was even and soft. Flynt took a deep breath in, then let it go. After that, he proceeded to breathe normally.

Over the course of a minute, Flynt’s mind started to drift in several different directions. He mulled over the anxieties of messing up his routine, the nervousness of performing in high-profile venues, the chatter of the people who passed by, the soothing sound of Ren’s voice, the—

_Wait, the what?_

…

Anyway.

At first, those distractions were overwhelming. He couldn’t stay focused on his breathing for more than a second before another thought or feeling barged in. But, whenever that happened, he would always do as Ren said and gently guide his attention back. After a couple of minutes, Ren softly interrupted the silence and guided Flynt’s attention to other aspects of his body. He would focus on the feeling of his bare feet against the grass, the pulse that he could feel in his fingertips, and the gentle breeze against his skin.

There was a final three minutes of silence before Ren opened his eyes, then turned toward Flynt. Flynt was still as a statue. Ren spoke up.

“Alright. Now. Whenever you’re ready, open your eyes.”

Flynt opened his eyes slowly, then blinked a couple of times against the light. He let out a long sigh through his nose. “That—“ He was startled by the sound of his own voice. “Uh, that was, different.” He started rolling his shoulders and tilted his head back. His hat fell off. “I, uh, really didn’t think I’d feel any different, but I was wrong.” Flynt looked over and met Ren’s gaze, then immediately looked away and started adjusting his sunglasses. “It’s a… well. That’s a pretty intimate thing, huh?”

Ren’s eyebrows raised slightly. “Huh. I… guess it is.” He looked down at the ground and smiled. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

Flynt took in another deep breath and leaned back on his hands. “Phew, yeah!” He laughed. “Yeah, maybe there’s something to that.” He picked his hat up off of the ground. “I might join you next time, too. If you’re cool with that.”

Ren leaned forward. “Well, I suppose.” He side-eyed Flynt and smiled. “Yeah. I would be cool with that.”

 

~~~

 

_“…after the water park, then there’s this cute little gift shop on the second…”_

_“…or we could… first… then I think that Coco wanted to…”_

_“…but then, at that point it’s whichever one that you… Yatsu? Heyyy, Yatsu!... YATSU!—”_

Yatsuhashi’s head slipped off of his palm and his face fell down toward the table. His nose smooshed into the whipped topping on his pancakes. He jolted upright and groggily faced toward Velvet, who was sitting in the booth opposite him and puffing her cheeks in disapproval.

“Seriously?” She wagged her fork in the air. “Wake up, already! I’ve got a big day planned out for us!” She picked up a napkin and reached over to wipe the cream off of his nose. She sat back and pouted. “Come on, aren’t you excited?”

Yatsu rubbed his eyes, then stretched with a big sigh. “I am excited. I just didn’t get much sleep, since you guys insisted on staying out all night last night. How are you not tired?”

Velvet put on a big grin, then puffed up her chest and put her hands on her hips. “I’m not tired because I am determined to make this trip the most memorable trip of our lifetimes.” She pointed at him emphatically. “And I refuse to let you sleep through it!”

“Velvet, I promise you that I’m not going to be any fun at all if I don’t get into bed at a decent hour.”

“Fine, fine. You’re right.” She leaned her cheek on one hand and took his hand with the other. “I’ll make sure you get tucked in right on time tonight, okay? I’ll even buy you a brand new stuffed animal. How does that sound?” She smiled at him.

Yatsuhashi smiled back. “That sounds wonderful.”

“How’s it hangin’, nerds?” With no warning, Sun bounded up to their table, the rest of his entourage in tow. Neptune and Sage looked pristine, but Scarlet lagged behind, huddled deep into an oversized black hoodie. He regarded them with a half scowl—he was obviously not a morning person. Sun leaned down toward the two of them. “We managed to wrangle your stragglers for you. No need to thank us.” He did a wide motion to the door of the small diner just as Coco and Fox walked in. “Now, let’s see what kind of grub is on the menu!” He skipped over the table just behind theirs and slid into the booth. The other three followed.

Fox and Coco made their way over. “Morning~” Coco greeted them with an airy, half-awake tone to her voice. She sat down next to Yatsu and elbowed him gently in the arm.

“Hey, Coco~” Velvet answered with a smile. Fox shared a nod with Yatsu as he slid into the booth next to Velvet.

Yatsu grinned slightly, then furrowed his brow. “Wait.” He turned back toward Velvet. “Why were they allowed to sleep in?”

“Because I wanted to be done eating when they got here so I could go over the itinerary while _they_ ate!” She beamed with pride, then looked at him with another pout. “You wouldn’t want me to show up and eat by myself, would you?”

“Come on, Velvet. The pouty lip’s not even fair.” Coco looked up at Yatsu. “It’s okay, big guy. We won’t let her take advantage of you like that.” Fox chuckled.

Yatsu sighed. “It’s fine. There’s only so much you can do when she’s this excited.” He smiled at Velvet and gave her a wink. “I’ll make it through.”

“Aww, I love you~” Velvet pressed her hands against her cheeks. There were audible gagging sounds from the next table over.

“Can you guys not?” Sun remarked over his shoulder. “I’d rather not lose my breakfast before I’ve even had it.”


End file.
